Among conventional image forming apparatuses, some have a plurality of computers (PC (Personal Computer) terminals) network-connected as clients, and execute a printer function, a scanner function and the like based on transmission of control signals from each of these PC terminals.
For an image forming apparatus of this type, each PC terminal is connected, for example, by a network cable to a router, and information is communicated over the network through the router.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-105264 (Patent Literature 1) discloses an approach in which a client apparatus and an image forming apparatus are network-connected through a router, and the client apparatus instructs the image forming apparatus to execute printer function.